


something old, something new

by The_Eclectic_Bookworm



Category: Single Parents (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, pretty much the entire crew makes a cameo in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22934326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Eclectic_Bookworm/pseuds/The_Eclectic_Bookworm
Summary: Rory catches Poppy and Douglas sneaking out the front door at seven in the morning on a Saturday.
Relationships: Poppy Banks/Douglas Fogerty
Comments: 27
Kudos: 52





	something old, something new

**Author's Note:**

> i think 2020 might just be the year of my writing becoming absolutely, chaotically unpredictable. did i think i would spend my entire thursday night writing fanfiction for _single parents?_ absolutely not? did i think poppy and douglas would attach themselves to my heart via banter and opposites-attract-except-they're-not-all-that-opposite adorableness? .....that one i actually kinda saw coming.
> 
> hopefully this is the first of more fic to come!! there is limited poppy/douglas fic on ao3 and i uhhh. need some. so i wrote some.

Rory catches Poppy and Douglas sneaking out the front door at seven in the morning on a Saturday. Strictly speaking, he doesn’t exactly _catch_ them so much as they catch _him:_ when they round the corner, he’s managed to clamber up onto the counter and _finally_ reach the jar of M&Ms that Poppy hid behind a stack of plates. He whips around, caught in the act, fully prepared to come up with a trademark Rory Banks Excuse—Poppy doesn’t know that he knows where the M&Ms are, after all, so _technically_ all he’s doing wrong is climbing on Douglas’s expensive counter—when a few things occur to him in succession:

  1. Neither Poppy nor Douglas are early risers. It’s deeply unusual for Poppy to be out of bed unless she absolutely _has_ to, and—though he refuses to admit it—Douglas won’t get out of bed if he has the opportunity to relax in it with Poppy. Rory has, in fact, teased him about this on a few separate occasions, to which Douglas responds by doing his Panicked Grumpy Bear impression that he does whenever Rory is unequivocally right. (Which is always. Rory is always right.) This is the entire reason that Rory is out of bed in the first place; he _knew_ they would be asleep. At least, he _thought_ they would.
  2. Neither Poppy nor Douglas look perplexed by his presence in the kitchen at seven in the morning on a Saturday. They don’t look mad at him, either. They actually both kind of look like _they’ve_ been caught standing on the counter in an effort to pilfer M&Ms from a secret snack stash.
  3. Poppy is wearing her best perfume, the _bright_ red lipstick she only wears when she’s feeling spicy, and a little white-and-yellow floral number with matching strappy heels. Poppy _never_ wears white-and-yellow floral numbers. Poppy only ever wears bright colors.
  4. _Douglas_ is wearing the most horrible white suit that Rory has ever seen. It should be burned.



No one in the room seems to know how to approach the situation, and no one seems willing to break the silence. Rory decides that this one’s on him, because clearly Poppy and Douglas have both gone some kind of crazy. “Going out?” he says as sweetly as he can manage, trying to look the picture of innocence even though the cupboard door is open behind him.

Poppy and Douglas exchange a Look. Then Poppy says, “You know what, Rory, I’ll give you a freebie. You don’t ask what we’re doing, we don’t ask what you’re doing. How’s that?”

Wide-eyed, Rory adds a crucial bit of information to the list:

  1. _Poppy is giving him a freebie._ Poppy _never_ gives him a freebie unless there’s something she _really_ wants to hide from him. And given that the last time she was handing out freebies was when she and Douglas were secretly dating—



“Are you two getting _married?”_ Rory gasps. It’s more an impulsive thought than a genuine guess, but to his _absolute_ shock, Poppy and Douglas exchange a horrified look. _“Are_ you?” Rory demands again.

Poppy gives Douglas this _look._ Then she says, “Seven AM on a Saturday, you said. The kids _definitely_ won’t be up, you said. Who’s up at seven AM on a Saturday, you said? My son, apparently, and he’s stealing my M&Ms.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that your child is taking a leaf out of Angie’s book?” says Douglas indignantly. “Normally it’s _her_ I’m on the lookout for. Those M&Ms are _mine,_ incidentally—”

“I thought you only eat Raisinets!”

“ _I’m branching out,”_ says Douglas.

“Hi,” says Rory, politely raising his hand. “Excuse me? I posed a question and it still hasn’t been answered.”

Poppy takes a long breath. Turning towards Rory, she says, “Rory, honey, Douglas and I came to the mutual decision that we don’t really want to make a big deal out of our getting married.”

 _“Not Make A Big Deal?”_ says Rory very loudly. _“How Can You Possibly Not Make A Big Deal?!?!?!”_

“What’s all the ruckus about?” says Emma, sticking her head in. She has grease smudges all over her heavy-duty coveralls. “And why are Dad and Poppy all dressed up? Does this mean we can go into their bedroom and fix the stuck drawer?”

“Are you _already up?”_ says Poppy disbelievingly.

“We do general repairs and in-home maintenance on Saturday mornings,” Amy informs her, strolling into the kitchen to wipe her greasy hands on a dish towel. “You’d be surprised at how many things break in this house over the course of the week.”

“I blame Tony,” says Emma.

“EMMA AND AMY,” Rory announces, delighted at the opportunity to break such scandalous news as dramatically as possible, “OUR PARENTS ARE GETTING—”

“Married,” Emma finishes. “We know.”

Poppy and Douglas exchange another Look. “You _know?”_ says Poppy. “We didn’t tell _anyone!”_

“Dad needs to get better at hiding things,” says Amy. “We found the ring _months_ ago.”

“Months?” Poppy’s eyes snap up to Douglas, and she has this big, sappy smile that once again reaffirms Rory’s approval of his mom dating (and now MARRYING!!!) Douglas Fogerty. Anyone who can make Poppy Banks smile Like That is an absolute keeper. “You said it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing!”

“It was!” says Douglas, but he doesn’t sound very convincing. “I-I saw the ring back in April, and I bought it on an impulse, and then I…impulsively proposed a few months later. Over dinner. At the Winebrary.”

“Mm hmm,” says Poppy, still smiling, and tucks her arm into his.

Rory, meanwhile, is very distracted by the newest revelation. “You _knew!”_ he gasps, pointing at Emma and Amy. “You knew and you didn’t _tell_ me!”

“Get with the program, Banks,” says Amy.

“You have to pay _attention_ to learn anything about a Fogerty,” says Emma.

“And you were going to just _let them elope?”_ Rory persists. “But what about a _wedding?_ With _cake?_ And _music?_ And _haute couture!”_

Poppy and Douglas exchange a third look, but this one doesn’t really have a capital L to it. Moving forward, Poppy lifts Rory down off the counter, holding him in her arms for just a second like he’s a single-digit toddler or something. (He doesn’t mind it _too_ much.) “Sweetie,” she says gently, “what you’re talking about isn’t something that we want. The whole big-wedding shebang might have been something that appealed to me when I was marrying your dad, but tastes change.” She gives Douglas this little smile that Rory doesn’t one hundred percent understand. “People change.”

“Marriage is more of a symbolic gesture,” Douglas adds. “We didn’t want to turn it into a big party—we wanted to get married, come back, and throw a little brunch where we broke the news.”

Rory chews on his lip. Then he says, “Can we come?”

Poppy blinks. “What?”

“We-ell,” says Rory, “I don’t exactly _agree_ with your reasoning, but I can _support_ it if it’s what really makes you happy. If you want _us_ to be happy, though, I think you should let us _be_ there?” It comes out sounding plaintive instead of authoritative, but there’s no time to worry about that now. Though Rory Banks would _never_ admit weakness…he really, really wants to see how big his mom smiles when she’s marrying somebody for keeps. “If you two are getting married, it means we’ll be a family, and that’s—”

“Oh, come _on!”_ says Emma suddenly. “Don’t ruin our Saturday, Rory! This is repair time and we’re _already_ a family, so why don’t you just let them sign the papers and let _us_ get back to fixing the shower?”

“That’s all marriage is, you know,” Amy informs Rory. “A contract. Same as the ones we draw up with Dad to negotiate our pay for fixing the shower.”

“You’re doing _what?”_ says Douglas. “It wasn’t broken!”

“And now it’s even _less_ broken,” Amy counters.

Rory, however, is caught a little off guard. “Already a family,” he repeats.

“Don’t get all sappy on us,” says Emma, pulling a face at him. “And _don’t_ make them make us stop our scheduled repairs.”

“No, I think Rory has a point,” says Poppy, and gives Douglas this soft little smile. “Even if all of us _are_ already a weird little family, we should still be all together on a day like this.”

“Oh, dear God no,” says Douglas. “Poppy, please don’t do this. This is what I was talking about, Poppy, if you bring one kid in that means we bring _everyone_ in—” But he’s already shepherding the protesting twins towards their bedroom, because what Poppy Banks wants, Poppy Banks gets. This is yet another reason why Rory approves of Douglas.

“I am _not_ changing!” Amy informs him.

“No one’s asking you to,” Poppy replies smoothly. “Maybe just wash your hands a little, though?”

Amy and Emma look shocked and delighted. “We get to go to a wedding in our _work clothes?”_ says Emma, does a little fist pump, and all but races towards the bathroom.

“When you say _all_ together—” Rory begins.

Poppy smiles.

* * *

“Okay, everyone stand together! No, _more_ together, more centered—Emma, keep away from your dad’s suit, okay?” Will is bouncing around like a chipmunk as he tries to get everyone into frame. “We don’t want grease on that. Not on a day like this!” He sounds close to tears. “Not on a momentous, historic, _deeply_ romantic—”

“Settle down, Cooper,” says Angie through a mouthful of cheeseburger. She’s still in her sweatpants, and Graham is in pajamas, a bathrobe, and an oversized hoodie that he borrowed from Miggy to prevent wind chill. Saturdays start _late_ at the D’Amato household. “Poppy said this is a casual thing.”

“Poppy wouldn’t have invited all of us if it was a casual thing!” Will shoots back.

“Dad, _please_ calm down,” says Sophie, but she already sounds resigned to the fact that he absolutely won’t.

“Look at his little baby tux!” Miggy is showing Jack off to Douglas, who is looking longingly over at Poppy with the clearly-readable expression of How Long Will This Picture Take; I Want To Be Married Already. “Got it from Homily. She had a _bunch_ of them on hand for this experimental art project she was doing. I think it’s _actually_ meant for an oversized teddy bear, but—”

“Am I underdressed?” Graham asks Sophie. “Or are you overdressed? The dress code for this wedding is very confusing.”

“I always have formal attire on hand,” says Sophie. “Period dramas have given me a _deep_ understanding of the need for a speedy wardrobe change.”

“A girl after my own heart,” says Rory warmly. He’s the host of this little shindig, after all. “Will, is the camera set up?”

Will is openly sobbing into Angie’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I think I should have seen this coming,” says Poppy to Douglas. “Rory?”

“On it!” sings out Rory, and weaves through his family to hit the timer on Will’s phone. “Will, get it together, the camera’s gonna go off in thirty seconds. Emma, _no_ grease on the white suit until _after_ the reception; we want the pictures to look good but the suit to never see the light of day _after_ this occasion because it is _horrible._ Graham, you’re underdressed. Sophie, you’re overdressed. Poppy, you look _great_ in your dress.”

“That’s my baby,” says Poppy, her voice brimming over with pride. “Class president through and through.”

Rory positions himself in between Poppy and Douglas, the latter having entirely ignored Rory’s very sound advice in favor of bringing his daughters in close. Rory can already see the grease stains on Douglas’s suit _(ugh,_ to both the stains _and_ the suit), but Douglas doesn’t seem to mind. Douglas looks happier than Rory’s ever seen him, actually; his smile isn’t hiding behind a scowl that doesn’t fool anybody. It’s radiating out, like he can’t even pretend to be upset today.

Poppy looks happy too, but—Poppy always looks happy lately, so this doesn’t feel as important right now. What _does_ feel important is the way Douglas’s free hand lands on Rory’s shoulder, tugging him carefully into the very middle of the picture, because he _knows_ Rory wants to be the center of attention, because it is what Rory _deserves,_ because Rory is a _star_ who has orchestrated this entire untraditional affair.

“Say _Fogerty-Banks!”_ Poppy sings out, laughing and clear, and Rory sees that his mom’s hands are on Emma’s and Amy’s shoulders, and he _likes_ that.

 _“Fogerty-Banks!”_ everyone shouts (except Will, who is still crying), and then the picture disperses into laughter and hugs and Douglas ruffling Rory’s hair. Rory can’t _wait_ for the wedding.

* * *

It’s not exactly like all the movies Rory’s watched. Poppy and Douglas don’t have any special vows—Poppy’s vows in particular are pretty lackluster, at least in Rory’s opinion. She just looks Douglas straight in the eye, _right_ after he’s stumbled through all the having-and-holding, and says very frankly, “I…feelings.” And for some reason Douglas starts _laughing_ at that, this big happy belly laugh that doesn’t sound like Douglas at all, and he swoops her up into a kiss even though the judge-looking guy didn’t say they could kiss yet.

Rory doesn’t _get_ romance. “Did you get that?” he whispers to Emma and Amy. “I didn’t get that.”

But Emma and Amy are watching their happier-than-ever dad with starry eyes and big smiles. And Rory definitely gets _that._


End file.
